Anibal Sanchez blows past dreaded 7th-inning hump in Tigers' win

DETROIT >> When Anibal Sanchez came to the Detroit Tigers as the big trade deadline acquisition two seasons ago, he came with a reputation as a 100-pitch pitcher.

It’s a reputation that Sanchez had seemed to shake last year, only to have it snap back in place in the middle of this season: He might be brilliant early in the game, but by the time the seventh inning rolls around, be ready to yank him.

That’s why Sunday’s outing was so fist-pump worthy for the right-hander, who gave up his second hit of the afternoon in the seventh inning, but got out of the jam, making it through what’s usually his roughest frame without a blemish.

“That’s the key today. I think when I come to the seventh inning, I say ‘I gotta keep the ball down, keep strong like I used to do, and I gotta show I can stay in longer in the game.’ Today is a big game for me, too,” said Sanchez, who struck out a season-high 12, allowing just two hits in his seven scoreless innings of work.

He also tossed a season-high 117 pitches, but didn’t seem to be flagging at all, even when Drew Stubbs singled with two outs in the seventh, then stole second.

“Today, I don’t think I have that kind of pitch count,” Sanchez admitted. “When I saw the scoreboard after Stubbs got hit, I say ‘Wow, I got a lot of pitches, so I gotta get this guy now.’”

Sanchez got Jason Pridie to ground out to catcher Alex Avila right in front of the plate.

And, yes, there was a little extra emphasis on his fist pump when he did.

“Well, we knew he was capable of doing it. He did it early in the season. He’s had a few games here recently here in the sixth or seventh innings,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “Overall, with the exception of the game he pitched in Oakland, this might have been his best start.”

Part of the success was using his fastball more than he had previously — Sanchez threw 61 fastballs, got swings on 32 of them, 16 of which missed.

“Today, I use a lot of my fastball. Last game, I feel like I got a lot of life out of my fastball. Today I just use it all the time,” Sanchez said. “The guys can’t make contact, so I don’t just use the fastball and go to another pitch.”

Stubbs was the only one to put a fastball in play, turning around a 92-mph four-seamer for a base hit.

“He used his fastball perfectly today. He threw it for strikes. He threw it in, he threw it out. And all his other pitches, as a result, were much better,” Ausmus said. “He used his fastball as well as I’ve seen him use his fastball this year. It just made his other pitches that much more effective when he did throw them.”

It ended a string of starts in which he either couldn’t get through the seventh inning, or he couldn’t keep from giving up a bunch of runs, if he did.

Coming into Sunday’s start, Sanchez had an ERA of 14.73 in the seventh inning, and opponents were teeing off for a .405 batting average and an OPS of 1.018 in the inning.

The sharp drop-off was something that had both Sanchez and Ausmus perplexed.

“I think he just got tired actually. I don’t know if it was the time off or for whatever reason, it just looked to me like he got tired. The ball came got up in the zone,” Ausmus said after Sanchez’s last home start, on July 18, when he gave up the first four of seven runs the Tigers allowed in the seventh. “He was really crisp up until that point, but it was almost like he hit a wall.”

Was it back to him being a 100-pitch pitcher?

It sure looked like he was tiring fast.

“We’ve seen that a few times in his last few starts,” Ausmus said. “It’s possible that some guys tire gradually as the game goes on, and some guys all of a sudden hit a wall, where they all of a sudden lose some of the oomph behind the ball.”

Can it be mental?

“It could be. I don’t know that it is with Sanchie. With veteran guys it’s usually not. It could be mental. Some guys get past a point, and — especially with all the pitch counts in the minor leagues, a young guy comes up and they get past a certain point in pitch count, and mentally, they’re like ‘OK, I’m past 100 pitches, I must be tired,’ rather than listening to their body,” Ausmus said.

“But part of that is the system that organizations use in the minor leagues, trying to protect pitchers. They use that magic 100-pitch mark often. So pitchers are trained to think that they’re done after 100 pitchers. I don’t know that I can necessarily blame that on the pitchers all the time.”

If it is mental, maybe Sunday’s start is a sign he’s getting over that mental block again.